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The Corbomite Maneuver (episode)
For Jerry Sohl's ''Incredible Tales story, see The Corbomite Maneuver (story).'' Exploring a distant region of space, the Enterprise is threatened by Balok, commander of a starship from the First Federation. Summary The ''Enterprise'' is exploring a region of space that has not previously been mapped by the Federation. While photographing and mapping it, they encounter a curious cube. This marker buoy appears to be a solid object, but can nevertheless move and track the ship. When they attempt to pull away, it begins to threaten them with radiation, forcing them to destroy it in order to save themselves. They continue to travel in the direction from which the cube approached. Part of their mission is to encounter new civilizations, and Kirk hopes to meet the one that dispatched the cube. And he does; the Enterprise is approached by an immense ship, the Fesarius, flagship of the First Federation. It seizes the Enterprise with a powerful tractor beam, and its captain, Commander Balok informs the crew that they are to be destroyed in ten earth minutes. Kirk and Balok play a mental cat-and-mouse game; Kirk advises Balok that an attempt to destroy the Enterprise will result in the destruction of the Fesarius via corbomite, a material and a device that protects Federation ships. Balok relents, and dispatches a small pilot ship to tow the Enterprise to a planet of the First Federation, where the crew will be interned and the ship destroyed. The Enterprise crew manage to free themselves, disabling Balok's pilot ship in the process. When they beam over to render aid, they discover the Balok they knew was only a puppet. The real Balok gleefully advises them that they have passed his test. He wanted to see what kind of people the Federation officers were, and he did not want to trust their records; he wanted a demonstration of actual behavior. At the end, Kirk, McCoy, and Bailey sample Balok's favorite drink, tranya. Kirk leaves Bailey with Balok as part of a cultural exchange. Log Entries *''Captain’s log, stardate 1512.2. On our third day of star mapping, an unexplained cubical object blocked our vessels path. On the bridge, Mr. Spock immediately ordered general alert; my location sickbay, quarterly physical check.'' *''Captain’s log, stardate 1513.8. Star maps reveal no indication of habitable planets nearby. Origin and purpose of the cube still unknown; we've been here, held motionless for eighteen hours.'' *''Captain’s log, stardate 1514.0. The cube has been destroyed. Ship’s damage minor, but my next decision major. Probe on ahead or turn back?'' *''Captain’s log, stardate 1514.1. The Enterprise is in tow; to this point no resistance has been offered. My plan, a show of resignation, Balok's tractor beam has to be a heavy drain of power on a small ship. Question: will he grow careless?'' Memorable Quotes "What am I, a doctor or a moon shuttle conductor?" : - McCoy "If I jumped for every light that went on around here, I'd end up talking to myself." : - McCoy (with no one else in the room) "We've got phaser weapons, I vote we blast it!" "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Bailey - when this becomes a democracy." : - Kirk and Dave Bailey "This is tranya. I hope you relish it as much as I." : - Balok "Yes, we're very much alike, Captain - both proud of our ships." : - Balok "You have an annoying fascination for timepieces, Mr. Sulu." : - Scott, as Sulu keeps track of the countdown to the destruction of Enterprise "Our respect for other life forms requires that we give you this... warning. One item not recorded in any ship's tapes is... corbomite. It is a substance and a device that prevents... attack on us. Should any destructive energy touch the ship, an energy of equal or greater strength is returned, destroying –" "Eight minutes." "– destroying the attacker. It may interest you to know that since the introduction of corbomite, more than two of our centuries ago, no attacking vessel has survived the attempt. Death has little meaning to us... if it has none to you, then attack us ''now. We grow annoyed at your foolishness." : - '''Kirks bluff, with '''Baloks time check "''If, uh, anyone's interested... thirty seconds." : - Sulu, continuing his fascination as time runs out "I regret not having learned more about this Balok. In many ways, he was reminiscent of my father." "Then may heaven have helped your mother." "On the contrary; she considered herself a most fortunate Earth woman." : - Spock and Scott, as Kirk's bluff brings a reprieve "A most interesting game, this... poker." "It ''does have its advantages over chess." "''Love to teach it to you." : - Spock, Kirk, and McCoy "I thought the power was off in the galley...?" "I used a hand phaser and ''zap – hot coffee." : - '''McCoy' and Yeoman Rand "That puppet..." "My alter ego, so to speak. In your culture, he would be Mr. Hyde to my Jekyll. You must admit, he's effective – you would never have been frightened by me. ... It was a pleasure testing you." "Testing us?" "''I had to discover your ''real intentions." "''But you read our memory banks --''" "''Your records could have been a deception on your part." : - Kirk, Balok and Bailey "Ah, you represent Earth's ''best, then." "''No, sir, I'm not; I'll make plenty of mistakes." "But you'll learn more about us that way; and I'll get a better officer in return." : - Balok, Bailey, and Kirk "Raising my voice ... doesn't mean I was scared and couldn't do my job. I just happen to have a human thing called an adrenaline rush." "It does sound most ''inconvenient, however. I would considered having it removed." (to Sulu) "''Very funny." (sotto voce) "Try to cross brains with Spock – he'll cut you to pieces every time." : - Bailey, Spock, and Sulu "Why Doctor, you've been reading your textbooks ''again?" : - '''Kirk', attempting to sidestep McCoy's belief that the captain has been riding Bailey because he recognizes something of Bailey in himself, from 11 years ago "Has it occurred to you that there's a certain ... inefficiency ... in constantly questioning me on things you've already made up your mind about?" "It gives me emotional security." : - Spock and Kirk Background Information * This was the first regular episode of Star Trek: The Original Series produced following the two pilots. * This episode is marked by several firsts. Besides being the first regular episode produced after the two pilots, it was also the first appearance of the black-collared Starfleet uniforms, including skirt uniforms for (nearly) all the women; and the first appearances of Leonard McCoy, Janice Rand, and Uhura. It was also the first episode in which the forward sections of the warp engine nacelles were made to glow, though in the teaser this doesn't happen because it seems to have used footage from . * Some of the uniforms have higher, loose "turtleneck" black collars, particularly Spock's. In Sulu's first close-up, the zipper built into the collar is clearly visible. That is because these were actually leftovers from the first two pilots that were retrofitted, not quite expertly, with the new black collars. * In both this episode and , Uhura wears a command division gold uniform. Some of the extras on the bridge after the cube's destruction are wearing turtleneck uniforms left over from and . * When Kirk leaves sickbay, he throws his uniform shirt over his shoulders; the tunic has only two solid gold rank stripes. In the turbolift and changing in his quarters, his tunic has the 2½ stripe marking. * There are signs of this being an early production, such as a bridge chair squeaking rather loudly near the end of the episode (when Uhura is listening in on Balok's distress call), as well as hearing the ship doors, made of wood, slide on the stage floor as they open and close. Stage noises would be edited out of later episodes. * When Kirk reports to the bridge from the turbolift, a rare camera angle from the elevator illustrates the panel to the right of the main viewscreen, and the two bridge consoles to the left of the science station. These sections were usually rolled out (off-screen) to facilitate filming the navigation console and Spock's station. :Like , the turbolift has double doors (the inner is gray; the outer is red), like modern elevators. This feature was later eliminated, probably because it was too cumbersome to maintain. * The distinctive bridge sound effects that most associate with Star Trek are first heard in this episode. The effect did not originate with 'Star Trek'. Early episodes of "The Twilight Zone" (notably "Execution" from 1960), feature this distinctive computer sound. * The set of Balok's room was a re-dress of the Enterprise conference room set. It was later recycled to create the bar in . * The "tranya" served by Balok was actually grapefruit juice. Clint Howard had to pretend very hard to like the drink, which he found distasteful. * A nice detail of this episode was having the colors of the cube buoy reflected on the railings at the front of the bridge. When this perspective was later re-used as the stock view screen shot for the next three seasons, the reflecting lights still showed up on the railings. (A new stock shot of the viewscreen was made in the middle of the second season.) * Also filmed for this episode (by associated producer Robert Justman) was George Takei's reaction shot in which he turned around and looked at Kirk, reused in dozens of future episodes whenever something strange appeared on the viewscreen. A similar clip would be filmed of Walter Koenig during season two. * A line from Balok warning the crew they had one minute left was not recorded, leaving Sulu to comment, "I knew he would" in response to nothing. The preview has an unused cut of Balok saying, "We grant you one minute" that could be modified and dubbed into the episode. * There are detailed close-ups of some of the engineering station read-outs in this episode. * The unique phaser burst that the Enterprise fires at the warning buoy is seen only in this episode. * The camera shot of the ship being towed by the small First Federation pilot vessel, from a perspective behind the nacelles, were re-used countless times in future episodes, with different ships or planets matted in. When it was used later, it was often slowed down, which made it much more grainy than the clear print in this episode. * Although we never learn the specific dimensions of the Enterprise during the series, it is established visually to be bigger than the cube. Sulu says the cube is 107 meters on a side. * Spock confesses an ignorance of poker, and he probably wouldn't enjoy the game since he said in that Vulcans do not bluff. * This episode was nominated for a Hugo Award in as "Best Dramatic Presentation". * Part of engineering's location is referred to in this episode. Kirk orders Bailey to coordinate drills with engineering, and Bailey says on two distinct occasions "Come on, Deck 5, give me the green light!" and also "Engineering Deck 5, report! Come on phaser crews, let's get with it!". He could either be referring to an engine room in the saucer on deck 5 or a separate "engineering deck 5" that exists in lower levels (where some of engineering is referenced to be in episodes like , , and ). * When Sulu announces there is one minute left on the timer, the timer actually reads: "2:02...2:01...1:00 (the two-minute marker changes to one as the one-second marker changes to zero) ...1:59," suggesting there are actually two minutes left. Afterwards, they only show the seconds. *When addressing the Fesarius, Kirk refers to the Enterprise as "United Earth Ship". This is the only episode where the Enterprise is identified as United Earth Ship Enterprise, or UES Enterprise. * James Doohan's wartime injury to his right hand is briefly visible in the conference room scene when he passes a coffee thermos. Generally this was carefully hidden off-camera, but it can also be seen when he's holding a phaser in . * This is one of the few episodes of the original which places a time stamp on the events. It is placed two centuries after mankind's early space explorations, or roughly the late 22nd century. Remastered Information * The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication the weekend of . New shots of the Enterprise, the pilot vessel, the Fesarius and the warning cube were rendered. As a "tip of the hat" to the original episode, the opening shot of the Enterprise for the remastered version was the same as seen on the view screen in the remastered version of and (except the CGI model was modified to match the rest of the episode, with the smaller antenna dish, the spinning nacelle domes and the lack of spires on them). Image:Fesarius.jpg|The original Fesarius Image:Viewscreen displaying Fesarius.jpg|...and remastered on screen :The next remastered episode to air was . Production Timeline *First draft script: *Final draft script: *Second revised final script: Even the Final Draft of this script, dated 3 May 1966, is quite different than the aired version: * The character of Uhura is not present. Dave Bailey is the communications officer, and he does not "flip out" as he does in the aired episode. * Lieutenant Ken Easton is the navigator. * Many bits of character-building are also absent. There are no flypaper, chess or poker analogies – Kirk simply decides to bluff Balok out of the blue. * The planet where Balok intends to imprison the ''Enterprise crew is named Carpi. * There is also no reference in this draft to: ** Kirk's salad ** Curiosity on Spock's part as to what Balok looks like – Balok initiates visual contact with the Enterprise ** Spock's opinion that Balok reminds him of his father or Scotty's retort Links and References * This episode is available on VHS through Amazon under ISBN 6300213072, and on a two-episode DVD (along with "Where No Man Has Gone Before") under ISBN 6305513406. Starring * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock Co-Starring * Anthony Call as Dave Bailey * Clint Howard as Balok Featuring * DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy * Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand * George Takei as Sulu * James Doohan as Scott * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura Uncredited * William Blackburn as Hadley * George Bochman as Crewman * Gloria Calomee as Crew woman * Ted Cassidy as the voice of the Balok puppet * Frank da Vinci as Brent * John Gabriel as Crewman * Ena Hartman as Crew woman * Mittie Lawrence as Crew woman * Jonathan Lippe as Crewman * Bruce Mars as Crewman * Sean Morgan as Harper * Stewart Moss as Crewman * Eddie Paskey as Leslie * Vic Perrin as the voice of Balok * Jeannie Shepard as Crew woman * Ron Veto as Harrison (bridge sciences division crewman) * Unknown actor as Bobby Many of the extras credited as crewmembers in this list were edited from the final print. Sean Morgan, Bruce Mars and Stewart Moss are nowhere to be seen in the episode. References 2255; adrenaline; Balok's cube; Bobby; ''Constitution''-class interior; corbomite; directional beam; Fesarius; First Federation; navigation beam; poker; quarterly physical; recorder-marker; salad; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; tranya External Links * |next= |lastair= |nextair= |lastair_remastered= |nextair_remastered= }} Corbomite Maneuver, The de:Pokerspiele es:The Corbomite Maneuver fr:The Corbomite Maneuver nl:The Corbomite Maneuver sv:The Corbomite Maneuver